Future excites aspirational Duggan

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Liam Duggan has his sights set on becoming a leader of the West Coast Eagles.

West Coast will officially embark on a new era when they clash with Sydney at Perth’s new Optus Stadium on March 25, but the club initiated a raft of changes when it launched a new logo on November 1 and brought in 10 new players via the 2017 draft and trade period.

Duggan, who today signed a three-year contract extension with the club, said he was excited to be a part of the club’s future.

“It’s really exciting. We’ve got a fresh new list and I want to be a part of helping that list to develop and grow,” Duggan said.

“We’ve still got a great group of senior players who are ready to lead the charge and hopefully within this next contract period I’ll be stepping into that category as well. That’s an aim of mine.

“We’ve got some new facilities on the way and we are obviously playing at Perth Stadium from now on, so it’s just good times ahead.”

Duggan said he barely had to think twice about extending his tenure in the west.

The Victorian said he had loved every minute of his first three years in Western Australia and couldn’t imagine leaving his beloved Eagles.

“I’ve loved my time here and the three years that I’ve been here the club has been great to me,” Duggan said.

“I’ve obviously built a great network of friends and the footy family. That’s the basis of the decision really. The club, I love it, and this is where I want to play my footy.”

Duggan had his most productive season in blue and gold in 2017, securing 20 starts after bedding down a spot in West Coast’s talent-laden backline.

And while he enjoyed working with the likes of Elliot Yeo, Jeremy McGovern and captain Shannon Hurn down back, Duggan said his ultimate goal was to start in the middle of the ground alongside some other developing on-ballers.

“I think the long term goal is the midfield. If that’s within the next three years, then great,” he said.

“We’ve had to fill a few gaps with Mitch (Sam Mitchell) and Pridda (Matt Priddis) leaving, but the boys are ready to step into that role and we’ve got some new blokes coming in like Venners (Daniel Venables), Parto (Luke Partington) and Kurt Mutimer, who are playing pretty well in the WAFL at the moment. We think we are in great hands with the list we’ve got.

“It’s exciting now that we can inject some new talent and we get some fresh looks in there.”